Gagnat d'Amour : Chapter 8
::Just Like Dr Pepper (So Misunderstood)::
Ash sighed deeply as he sat on the mint coloured sofa in the Pokémon Centre lobby; with his head on his knees and his hands clasped so tightly together his knuckles were white, he waited impatiently for Joy to heal his Pokémon. His sixth round had been that morning. Misty had avoided him all day, and she hadn't sat on the bench behind him during the match, and he hadn't seen her up in the bleachers either.
The only reason he won was that his opponent had wasted a Voltorb and a Graveler with SelfDestruct attacks, neither of which had hit an Agility-using-Pikachu. He was lucky he had won; too lucky really. He just - couldn't concentrate on the match. For the first time in his life, there was something more important.
Misty pressed back against the clinical wall. Hiding around the corner she surveyed Ash in the lobby. With about a metre radius around him, people could see the blackness of his mood and the inner turmoil bubbling away at all his logic. She had gone to watch him battle - of course she had. Right at the back row, squashed between a large man and a girl about her age who was vaguely familiar to her. But she had watched every moment of the match intently, and she could see that Ash's usual spark was duller than normal.
She even dared to think - could he be missing her down there?
When the others had deserted him, and gone back to the cabin, Misty had followed the melancholy Ash to the Pokémon Centre. But she couldn't go and face him.
Sighing deeply, Ash plodded up to the counter and collected up Kingler's Pokéball and allowed the revitalised Pikachu to scamper up his arm. Barely acknowledging the smiling Nurse Joy, he turned and left. Misty bit her lip; should she follow him? Try and talk to him? What if it was all a mistake - a trick of the light, or some practical joke Brock and Tracey had cooked up? Was she stupid to let her heart get so involved in this?
Ash's figure was lost in the crowds, and Misty slid down the wall onto her knees.
"What's wrong with me?" she thought to herself. "I can't avoid Ash for the rest of my life…" In frustration, Misty pounded her fist against the linoleum floor, before quickly swinging her backpack onto her shoulders and walking hurriedly out of the automatic doors.
@#@#@#@#@
Ash wasn't sure what he wanted to do. His 7th round was the next morning - he won that, and he'd be in the finals! But inside he knew that today he'd been lousy - really, really sucked, and that if he didn't do something to focus his thoughts soon he'd lose tomorrow for sure. Sitting in the clearing not too far from his cabin, Ash voiced his worries aloud, to Pikachu. Hiding behind a tree, Misty listened, her heart reaching out for the confused boy.
She stepped out from under the canopy.
"Chuu-Pika-Chu!" (Misty!) called a delighted Pikachu. Ash looked up jerkily, shocked and embarrassed.
"H-hey…Myst, um, Misty. What's up?" he stammered, shuffling his feet. Misty didn't answer. She just stared at him. "Look Misty, about that…picture…"
"What picture?" Misty asked innocently. Ash looked curiously at her.
"The one- the one with me…kissing you…" Misty forced a laugh.
"You wish Mr Pokémon Master, but you'll never get to kiss somethin' this beautiful!" she scoffed, cupping her chin. "Now c'mon, I can smell Brock's cooking from here!" Misty grabbed Ash's arm and pulled him on one leg to the nearby cabin. Pikachu, nodding knowingly, ran along after them.
"I guess she hasn't looked at the pictures yet!" thought Ash as he allowed himself to be pulled along. "This IS my lucky day!"
"Okay, now all I have to do is pretend that I don't know that my best friend has a crush on me and *thinks* he's in love with me," thought Misty. "…maybe…maybe he is in love with me…" She quickly banished the thought from her head. "No way! Ya can't be in love at 14! It's impossible!"
As soon as they got back to the cabin, Ash rummaged through Misty's bag, found the pictures, and after a moments hesitation, ripped them clean in half and stuffed them to the bottom of the wastebasket. He had to resist the urge to set them on fire. What a lucky break!
Misty sat at the front of the cabin, slowly digesting her food while Linda gabbled on about the price of blonde highlights these days. Slowly, Misty filed the same thumb-nail, over and over again, humming inaudibly.
"…ash…" That was the only word Misty heard her cousin say. Immediately, she stopped filing and sat up guiltily.
"Wh-waaa? W-what about him?" Linda looked at her strangely.
"What about who Misty?"
"About, about Ash…ya just said "Ash"…" Linda burst out laughing.
"No I didn't. I said cash! Man Misty, why are you so jumpy?"
"Me? Ehehehe…jumpy? Me?" Misty babbled, non-convincingly. "What ever gave you that idea Lins? I'm, I'm NEVER jumpy - ehehe - you know me! Always got my feet firmly on the ground…never jumpy…never…nosiree, not me!" Linda gazed at her, with one pencilled eyebrow delicately raised.
"Whatever love," she drawled. "I'm not really interested in you and that wannabe." Misty smacked her nail file down on the grass.
"Wannabe?" she asked. "Wannabe!? Who's the one who's knocked out huh Linda? Ash'll show you - Ash'll show them all. He's gonna win this time. I know he is." Without a further word, Misty rose from the grass and set off towards the Pokémon Centre, leaving her completely flabbergasted cousin staring at a circle of flattened grass and the two halves of Misty's nail file. Then two feet appeared in her vision.
"Hey Tracey," she drawled, sounding bored. Tracey shuffled uncomfortably, unsure of what to do. Linda observed this in amusement. "You can sit down if you want to," she pointed out, and Tracey tried to sit down gracefully beside her.
"Hey...Linda, what's with Misty?" he asked, in a slightly affected tone of voice.
"Jeez, I have no idea. She just had a massive go at me, something about that Ash guy, and stormed off. Man, can you spell PMS or what!?" There was silence for a few seconds, and then suddenly Tracey exploded with fake laugher as he almost got what she meant. Linda surveyed this, growing more and more amused by the second. She loved it when she came across a guy who was infatuated with her, as Tracey obviously was. Guys were her toys, and it looked like she was going to have a great time with this one…
@#@#@#@#@#
"Aw man, I'm so confused…" Ash applied pressure to his temples, but it didn't clear his thoughts. He sat all alone, in the empty Water arena. Even Pikachu was back at the cabin. He'd even skipped dinner himself; he needed to think too badly. So he'd come back to the Water Field - where he'd had his first ever League match. He unwittingly cast a smile at the memory of Misty's eagerness to lend him her Pokémon.
Yeah, there had always been times when he'd thought that Misty had a crush on him. There had been times hen he had almost dared to take her hand while sitting so close to her on Lapras, or offer to carry Togepi for her.
And then there were other times, when he felt she truly hated him - a suspicion that had always plagued his senses and instincts. He now knew that she had never hated him, but that didn't make what he felt any easier to live with.
Yeah - how he felt.
He hated the way he felt.
Because she didn't want to know.
He didn't want to pressurise her - make her uncomfortable - the last thing he wanted was too upset her in any way at all. He loved her…and now he hated Tracey and Brock for taking those stupid pictures that got him into this mess. He'd much rather have Misty as a friend and keep his feelings hidden, that to lose her companionship due to awkwardness between them.
Silently watching again, Misty stood at the mouth of the tunnel leading into the arena, watching Ash torture himself. The dim light captured the sheen of a tear in her eye as she watched him helplessly.
"Oh Ash," she thought desperately. "If only you knew…if only I knew."
@#@#@#@#@#
Well, she was behind him again. The tension between them was almost unbearable.
The tension between the battling Trainers was even fiercer. They were in the semi-finals, and neither was gonna give up without a fight.
[V. quick summary of most of the battle] Once again, Ash was against a female Trainer. Evelyn Eonson. Unsurprisingly, her first Pokémon out was an Eevee…a highly trained Eevee that had beaten Ash's Kingler without much of a problem. Typhlosion had beaten it, but then had been beaten by Vapoureon. Ash had sent out a successful Chikorita (who, like his long-gone stubborn Bulbasaur, had refused to evolve to Bayleef), and who, in turn, had been beaten by Flareon.
The two Trainers were evenly matched, and even Misty found herself doubting Ash's ability to beat Evelyn. Ash sent Croconaw out and it beat Flareon, but then it was defeated by a Jolteon. Jolteon had been defeated by Ash's Donphan, who afterwards had been defeated by Umbreon. Confusing, ne?
Ash only had one Pokémon left. Lucky for him it was Pikachu, and it defeated Umbreon by using Agility to dodge the Dark Pokémon's attacks. It was Sudden Death. Ash felt a shudder of anticipation and dread course through him. Whatever Pokémon Evelyn had left, he just prayed to whatever God there truly was, that it wasn't a Rock or Ground element.
Misty crept off the bench, and moved as close to the Trainer box as she could. She knew she couldn't reach in and touch Ash, it was against League rules at this stage in the game, so she just stood quietly behind him, as the tens-of-thousands of people watched their TVs and the hundreds in the stands cooed at the scene.
Ash could feel her. He sensed her presence, and the breeze blew her scent to him. His lips curved up into a smile, but he didn't turn around. Pikachu waved at Misty confidently from the middle of the stadium. Ash reached one hand behind him, and clasped Misty's. There was no rule about him not touching her. Evelyn whipped out her final Pokéball.
"Espeon, go!" The sleek violet form of Eevee's Psychic evolution appeared on the stadium floor, the jewel on its forehead shimmering under the strong arena lights.
"Evelyn will have saved her best for last - " Ash thought. He jerked back, still holding Misty's hand and moved into serious battle mode. "Pikachu! Start off with Flash!"
Pikachu's cheeks and the tips of her ears turned yellow with conserved electricity, until a blinding flash of light filled the arena, dropping Espeon's accuracy.
"Espeon, Confusion!" Espeon's eyes glittered menacingly, and turned black with gold specks. A wave of navy and black light engulfed Pikachu, injuring her. Ash gritted his teeth.
"Use Agility! We can't let her hit us! Then use your Electric Attack! Swift!" Pikachu did all she was told, never staying still in the same spot, lest Espeon's psychic blasts hit her. Again and again she circled the arena, damaging Espeon, with small, low-damage attacks because she daren't stand still long enough to charge up for an all out Thunder. Even Pikachu herself wasn't sure how many more of those kind of Psychic hits her HP could take.
"Espeon, use Hypnosis!" Evelyn called. Ash knew that if Pikachu fell asleep, all was lost. Pikachu knew it too, as she suddenly put on a burst of energy, and Quick Attacked Espeon with all her might, then quickly moved out of her reach, moving so fast golden sparks were flying from her cheeks. It wasn't just Ash's battle, it was Pikachu's too, and all she'd ever wanted was to make Ash's dreams reality. She lived for him, and this was the moment when she'd prove how much she loved him, and what she'd do for him.
She ran to the very edge of the crudely painted white lines, marking the end of the battling field, as far away as she could get from Espeon. Espeon started running towards Pikachu, but when it was within striking distance, Pikachu began to concentrate her electricity. Current flowed between her ears and everything inside her cracked with energy as she spent every last ounce of her energy save enough to stand. When Espeon was less than 5 metres away, Pikachu fired the attack, which hit the Psychic Pokémon dead on.
Great clouds of black dust and debris rose up, obscuring view as even the stadium floor was scorched. As the dust settled, both Pokémon were still standing. Evelyn smirked. Espeon however, looked ready to keel over, as did Pikachu, who was wavering on the spot. Confused by the attack, Espeon looked off into the distance, and made no move to attack the weakened Pikachu.
Pikachu saw her chance. Using the last, the very last of her energy, she stumbled over to the completely out-of-it Espeon, and put her tail against its body. The very last of the electricity in her body cracked through her tail and onto Espeon. Espeon crashed the floor yowling. A second of silence passed. Then Pikachu crashed to the floor beside it, her energy totally gone.
The referee ran over to the scene, and surveyed the two fainted Pokémon.
"Please don't set a re-match…" Brock silently begged. He didn't know if Ash could be so lucky next time. The referee whipped up the green flag.
"The Espeon fainted before the Pikachu. Green Trainer Ash Ketchum is the winner! Congratulations sir! You're through to the finals!" Everyone suddenly went ballistic. Tracey jumped up and started "Whooping!!", Linda clapped a little, Jo cheered loudly, then got embraced in a forceful bear hug by Brock. Ash ran onto the stadium, and hugged Pikachu gently. The paramedics rushed on to take both fainted Pokémon to the nearest Pokémon Centre. Pikachu was going to be fine.
Ash whirled around. Blind with joy, he held out his arms and Misty ran into them, squealing with happiness. He hoisted her up and twirled her around and around the centre of the arena, while she grabbed his hat and waved it around as the spectators applauded.
As the arena began to empty, and the reporters began to queue up next to the entrance tunnel, Ash gently set Misty down on her feet, so he was still holding her loosely in his embrace. He grinned at her, as their faces were perfectly aligned.
"When did he get so tall…" wondered Misty, as she gazed at her best friends face. She knew why her decision had been so hard to make. She hadn't known she'd liked him, until she fell in love with him.
[A/N]
(grumble grumble) I don't really like this chapter. Oh well, next one's the last one and I promise it'll be as good as I can possibly make it.
In case you haven't been able to tell, I luv Eevees (^_^) and I think Espeon is soooooooo cool!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I have to thank my muse, who I love very much. *.*
And since I'm nearing the end, thanx to Chuchino for making me more tolerant of Tracey. I'll almost be sad to see him go…
So guys, the last part is nearing - but I want you to think about the last line. Because it is very, very true. One thing about me, is that a lot of the time I write from my (one) experience!
Pls review! Go on, you know you want to! Please? For me? I need AT least 15 reviews b4 I can upload Chp9 (the last one). I'll feel sad - you evil people who read and don't review! Even if you don't like it, please, please tell me so I can improve. 'Kay?
~Cya next time! Luv, Riny-chan http://www.silentshouting.fan-page.com